Human & Environment Interactions


Environment → Human

Himalayas

Himalayas is a mountain range in South Asia, which separates Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan plateau. It is a home for world's tallest mountains, including Mount Everest. This mountain range act as a blocker of freezing air coming from central asia. Therefore, winter in south asia is very warm and dry, unlike how it's summer is unbelievably hot and humid.

pigrims-bathing-ganges-river.jpg

Ganges river

Gang es river has great religious significance for Hindus. They treat this river very holy and often bath in it, because bathing in Ganges river is believed to be forgiving of one's sins. People also drink from it and carry it to their home after filling their pots with water and most temples are lined with the river.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes of south asia had helped it's distinct shape to be formed. For example, Himalayas was the product of an earthquake by clashing plates. However, earthquake led to loss of many lives, properties, and so one. At Latur, Maharashitra, in 1994 and Bhuj, Gujarat, in January 2001. It had caused loss of lives, houses, and properties.



Human → Environment


2908AS1.jpgAir pollution

As usage of herbicides and pesticides for farming increased, number of factories of toxic concentrations and chemical elements increased also. In 1984, at
the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, water leaked into a methyl isocyanate storage tank. Inside the tank where water and the chemical had triggered reaction, toxic gases were produced. It spread all over the areas and had killed 3000 people immediately and another 12,000 as time went by. However, the real number of people injured has been proven to be at least 50,000 with long term effects on eyes, lungs, and external image arrow-10x10.png. It destroyed farming livelihoods and the smell of the place worsened.

Water pollutionBangladesh-Rohingya_01.jpg

As economies of some places grew stronger, the number of factories increased. Some of those factories had let a polluted concentration of leather tanning works to enter Ganges river. People who were bathing in the Ganges river as a Hindu ritual began to have health problems, because of the river's polluted water. In recent years, the pollution had worsened because of uprising trashing in the Ganges and funeral pyres along it's banks. There are 264 million gallons of human waste per day.

Deforestation

Humans had cut down forests to get woods and acquire places further on their nation's developments(buildings, cultivated area). Area of forests has decreased. From that deforestation, flood can occur because trees drink water and hold it. So at lower Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys and combined external image arrow-10x10.png, huge flood had occured because of deforestation of upper reaches of rivers and their tributaries in India, Nepal, and Tibet.
lower Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys/ combined external image arrow-10x10.png


Natural resources

Natural resources of south asia strengthened India's economy. These resources include: oil, natural gas, iron ore, coal deposits, diamonds and many others.








Bibliography:

Bradshaw, White, Dymond and Shacko. Contemporary world regional geography (selected chapters). 2nd ed. New York: Mcgraw/Hill Custom Publications, 2007. Print.



images:

http://oborne.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/welcome-to-the-blogosphere/
http://siswebs.org/water/story.php?title=India_and_pollution__Up_to_their_necks_in_it
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=3662&cat=field-news